California Candidates Tell Supporters To Ignore Polls
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) - California political candidates are crisscrossing the state, looking for that last-minute edge that will help them get elected on Tuesday.
The final Field Poll shows Jerry Brown beating Meg Whitman by ten points for governor and Barbara Boxer leading Carly Fiorina by eight for Senator.
Both Whitman and Fiorina are exhorting their supporters to ignore the numbers and head to the polls.
KCBS' Doug Sovern Reports:
But Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said in 62 years of surveying voters, the organization has a pretty strong track record.
"Out of the 53 races, the person who was leading in the final poll won the race 49 times," he said. "Four times, the winner did not win."
The poll has been wrong once on governor, once on the U.S. Senate and twice in presidential campaigns.
"Each of those races ended up being extremely close," DiCamillo said. "The one that had the widest margin was Bradley-Deukmejian. It was about five or six points for the losing candidate."
The so-called Bradley effect was when the Los Angeles mayor, trying to become California's first black Governor, lost despite holding a six-point lead in the final Field Poll.
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